Mailbag: Retailers Talk Leafs

I've gotten about a dozen emails with a link to yesterday's post by Howard Berger of HockeyBuzz.com. The post is about speculation on the new Toronto Maple Leafs Rbk EDGE uniforms. By all means, it's worth a quick read. But I'll sum up here.

The Leafs will stay pretty much the same. While the design of the jersey will be slightly altered, the club will not tinker with its blue and white color scheme. Nor will the Leafs dip into their last Stanley Cup dynasty for the uniform's primary logo. It will remain as it's been since Harold Ballard re-worked the crest in 1970. The nine-point emblem (with "TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS" printed in a straight-line font) will not be replaced by the more stylish "stem" (or 35-point) logo of the 1960s ("TORONTO" being displayed in a dome-like curvature) — a time when the Maple Leafs were frequently winning championships. The stem logo had been re-introduced on the club's third jersey of recent years: the predominantly white uniform with blue shoulder piping that was a virtual copy of the jersey the Leafs wore in road games from 1963-64 to the end of the 1966-67 regular season.

He doesn't specify a source, but I'm led to believe it's a loose-lipped retailer with the scoop. Today, he added an update quoting another store owner.

"Exact same shirt as last year, minus, TML shoulder patches, bottom stripes are gone, (sleeves stripes remain). Silver twill is gone. Number font is the same as last year, block style, basically Marlies lettering — blue, white blue, and white blue white. Names remain one colour as per last year. Very, very plain."

For a visual aid to what we're talking about here, Jeff writes in: "From what I heard from a store owner, this is what the jersey should look like..."

I should also point out that the unveiling date of September 13 I have in the sidebar countdown comes from a reader citing a retail source. It all remains to be seen however and the speculation shall continue until we have official word from the Leafs.